Useful subject to combine with Chinese at university?

[PaoYu]

I apologise if this post seems slightly out of place, but I can't think of a better place to enquire about the study of Chinese in relation to the Chinese job market -- or any job market, for that matter.

I'll be starting a degree in "Chinese (modern and classical)" at SOAS, in London, this September. We get to take "floater" units (free units) in other subjects at various times, and it is fairly easy to change to a dual-subject degree.

I know some of you have experience with employment in China, and a few of you perhaps are employers yourselves. What sort of things, coupled with Chinese, would make someone competitive on the job market? Forgive me if I don't give a list of jobs, but I would rather leave it open ended.

The possible choices (to go with Chinese) are:

Indonesian, Korean, Thai, Development Studies, Economics, Geography, History, History of Art/Archaeology, Law, Linguistics, Management, Music, Politics, Social Anthropology, Study of Religions.

I've made bold the ones I am most interested in. My interests, however, are very wide, and the SOAS syllabi for the different subjects are all very interesting; I could happily study just about any of these.

A few may be tricky to get on to, I know they had a 22:1 application:place ratio for Law this year -- ouch!

Or, of course, sticking with my current option of studying only Chinese (with a few floater units in other subjects). Though I meet staunch opposition to this from almost everyone I talk to: it won't equip me with any actual skills to use on the job market. I'd like to point out, though, that it isn't purely a functional "language degree", it is more an "academic study of China", but with a heavy language element. In fact, here is the syllabus for the single honours. If I were to take a dual honours then the majority of 3rd and 4th year units would be taken in the other subject.

There's also the option of doing an MA or MSc in an actual "skill" after completing my undergrad. A bit more debt won't make much difference, eh?

Well, there we go. I'd love to hear your experiences and thoughts.

[md1101]

maybe youd be interested in some asian studies units. im studying one called 'China and Globalisation' Its about the rise of china in the last 15 years in relation to globalisation. Its about Chinas economic, political and social devlopment. It includes stuff like military build up, rights of the media, freedom of speech as well as its association (or lack of) with its expanding free markets.

Im glad i found this subject!

[JohnSmith1980]

The SOAS degree is quite hardcore, and I would maybe recommend that u think of doing a dual degree as it seems as though u might have the wrong agenda for single subject chinese. Single subject chinese student are those that learn chinese because they love all aspects of china... culture, history, language, classical texts etc. People who are studying chinese through some what interest as well as job agenda tend to prefer dual degrees as china just gets a bit too much - especially the classical.

I think its fairly easy to change to dual degree once the term starts - so maybe if u are considering law - change to it once u are in soas as ur more likely to get in (same goes for all dual degrees) i'd check with the university before hand.

[PaoYu]

Single subject chinese student are those that learn chinese because they love all aspects of china... culture, history, language, classical texts etc

I do! That's part of the reason that I chose SOAS: they are one of the few UK unis to put emphasis on classical Chinese.

I'm just trying to think ahead. Ultimately, I have until I get back from China, at the end of the 2nd year, to decide whether I want to continue with the single honours or change to a dual honours. I just thought it would be interesting to see what people thought about "complimentary" subjects to Chinese.

[Roee]

Whatever it is that you'll choose, keep in mind that by the time that you'll finish your degree in Chinese it wont be worth half as much as it is now, as there will be gazillion other people who would be able to speak Chinese. Make sure to "equip" yourself with skills that would enable you to find a job; unless you are planning to be a translator, Mandarin is just a tool.

[girlwonder]

One of my friends did Chinese and Management at SOAS and she has just graduated. It was a lot of work - but most of the stuff she learnt in Management was common sense - so it wasn't too bad, I think.

She also had the choice of doing floater units in other subjects as well, and I think she did Spanish and a few other things.

I'd say go for a joint-honours if you REALLY want to. And if espesh at SOAS the 3rd and 4th years concentrate more on the second course, and not Chinese - you need to consider if that's a sacrifice that you want to make.

I'll be honest - you won't be any better at Chinese if you do the single honours. You'll pretty much be at the same level as everyone else (I know because I'm doing joint honours in French and Philosophy at UCL) but you need to consider if you want to concentrate JUST on Chinese.

Good luck! =)

[PaoYu]

Hey Girlwonder,

I'd be interested to hear how your friend gets on after graduation!

It's an interesting point you raised about single- and dual-honours students being at roughly the same level of Chinese by the end. I was thinking the same thing. I imagine the first year, and then obviously the second year spent in China, to be rather intensive and have the biggest learning curve.

SOAS also offer evening classes (nothing to do with the degree), and I could always take those at an advanced level in the 4th year. Bit expensive, mind ! Do you know if it was fairly common for single-honour students to change to dual honours after the 2nd year? I know it is possible, but they said it was much easier to do it the other way around (double to single).

It's ironic that I'm on here debating what would be best for getting a job in four years' time, when I should be out looking for work now. I'm going to be so skint in London that there'll be nothing to do but study

[girlwonder]

She graduated last week, and she's planning to move to Beijing to try and find work or whatnot, as well as to perfect her Chinese.

It's very true what you said about the language level. I spoke French before I started doing French and Philosophy as a degree - so I can't really say - but for other people whose language levels weren't as high, they improved their Chinese/Japanese/French/whatever it was drastically during the year abroad. Especially in a place like China, you're pretty much thrown in at the deep end (as a contrast to Europe, where most people speak some degree of English anyway). That will be the period where you learn most of your language skills - your first and second year - and then the third and fourth are a bit of a bummer really. Haha. I'm glad my year abroad at UCL was in my 3rd year, not 2nd.. because I don't think I could have coped with TWO years back at UCL as opposed to one!

I had a few friends who considered changing to dual honours (or changing their second degree to another) at different universities and.. it's not too easy. Say you take Chinese to begin with, and you decide you want to do Chinese and Korean as joint honours when you get to your 2nd year. That's not going to be easy - because people who took Korean in the first year would already have learnt the basics of the language and more - which you probably wouldn't have. (Actually thinking about it now, I was in this situation - I wanted to drop Philosophy and change to Spanish or Italian - I already speak a bit of Spanish but no Italian and both departments said that it was damn near impossible for me to catch up, so I was denied..) So I really wouldn't suggest changing to a joint honours course half way through. Try and make up your mind now and stick with it. And if worst comes to worst, you can choose a joint honours degree and if you find that it's too much work / that you don't like it, you can always drop the one you're enjoying less.

I'm forever procrastinating (sitting at my computer) about what I'm going to do in the future, or what I'm going to do next month when I have no money and no job for the moment. I know the feeling. But a student's life is all about being skint.. and don't worry, you will cope fine being skint in London what with student loans and all that. You're just going to have to cope with less food / less new clothes / less drinks but haha it'll all be worth it in the end!